FIANNA FÁIL MEP Barry Andrews has described the recent killing of 15 aid workers in Gaza as “one of the darkest episodes in the war”.

Speaking during a debate yesterday in the European Parliament on the situation in Gaza and the need to return to the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, Andrews remarked: “Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, you see the scenes coming out of Rafah this week.”

Mass grave

The Israeli military today said it was investigating the killings on 23 March, which happened after its troops opened fire on ambulances.

Israel claims to have targeted “terrorists”, but the United Nations reported that 15 medics and humanitarian workers were killed and their bodies were found in a mass grave.

Bodies of eight medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent, six members of Gaza’s civil defence agency and one employee of a UN agency were retrieved, the Red Crescent said in a statement.

One Red Crescent emergency responder was still missing, according to the group.

UN aid official Jonathan Whittall said yesterday that the mass grave in Rafah where the bodies of the 15 medics were found illustrated the “war without limits” that Israel is leading in Gaza.

1/6 First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances. pic.twitter.com/xFYFXWp2c6

— Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025

Whittall said “it was shocking” to see medical workers “still in their uniforms, still wearing gloves, killed while trying to save lives”.

An Israeli military official said the army “contacted the organisations multiple times to coordinate the evacuation of the bodies, in accordance with the operational constraints”.

“Understanding that the process might take time, the bodies were covered with sand and cloth sheets so that they wouldn’t get damaged,” the official said.

The military has not formally responded to claims that the bodies were dumped in a mass grave.

Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres voiced alarm over the killings.

“The secretary-general is shocked by the attacks of the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on 23 March resulting in the killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a briefing yesterday.

‘Darkest hour’

Speaking in Strasbourg, Andrews said he was “stunned” by the killings.

“We know how hostile the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) is towards UNWRA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees),” said Andrews.

“We know how dangerous it is to deliver aid in Gaza, and we know how little respect there is for international humanitarian law.”

The execution of paramedics and the burying of an ambulance must count among the darkest episodes of this war.

Israel must understand that there is no military solution that can resolve the Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Violence feeds only more violence.… pic.twitter.com/ToNaex4Wvp

— Barry Andrews MEP (@BarryAndrewsMEP) April 2, 2025

He said the IDF had “targeted” the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Civil Defence is bad enough.

“I use the word ‘targeting’ advisedly, given the sophistication of the IDF military,” said Andrews.

He also criticised the IDF for “seeking to bury the evidence, evidence that bizarrely included an ambulance and a UN vehicle”.

“And victims still wearing medical gloves,” said Andrews. “This has to count as one of the darkest episodes in the war.”

He added: “And if the darkest hour is the one before the dawn, then let us hope that the Israelis will wake up to the fact that there is no military solution that will resolve the question of Palestinians right to self-determination.”

-With additional reporting from © AFP 2025